If you’re a fan of Kevin Durant, you know about the Goodman League at Barry Farms. Or better known as “Inside da Gates.” KD grew up playing at Barry Farms and makes a yearly return (or returns) to play in Washington D.C.
The Drew League is basically the West Coast version of it and somewhere that KD and James Harden have both played this summer. And know organizers are matching them up for a head-to-head showdown.
It’s Aug. 20 in D.C. and can be seen streaming here. And now we have the full rosters.
Representing the Goodman with KD will be John Wall, Ty Lawson, Gary Neal, Tyreke Evans, Michael Beasley, DeMarcus Cousins, Josh Selby, Sam Young, Donte Greene and from the And1 Tour Hugh Jones, Emmanuel Jones and Warren Jefferson.
For the Drew League James Harden, DeMar DeRozan, Nick Young, Dorrell Wright, Brandon Jennings, JaVale McGee, Craig Smith, Pooh Jeter, Bobby Brown (Aris BC), Marcus Williams and three more players yet to be named later.
With a dark summer of no official basketball because of the lockout, you should be very, very excited for this. And there’s no doubt that the Goodman has a major edge here. First, it’s in D.C. Second, look at that roster. KD, Wall, Lawson, Reke and Beasley are quite the core. Harden’s been tearing up the Drew (he scored 52 there a couple weeks ago), but the Goodman roster is way better.
You can be sure this showdown will be awesome. And you can be sure I’ll be watching. You better be too.
Back-to-backs, and then some
After the schedule comes out, most of the discussion around it centers around back-to-backs. They can take a seemingly easy month and turn it into an incredibly difficult one. Having to play Wednesday night at home and then turn around and fly to Orlando for a game less than 24 hours is not easy.
But simply looking at back-to-backs is just the beginning. It’s only scratching the surface. The real meat and potatoes to the difficulty of a schedule comes down to not only the back-to-back, but what the team you’re playing on that second night comes in looking like. What if you’re playing your fourth game in five days but your opponent has had three days off? Those are the type of minor quirks in a schedule that can really make a difference come April.
In the Thunder’s case, they are in the middle of the pack in back-to-backs of just 17. The Thunder are on the high end of four games in five days though with three (five teams have four of those), but are on the low end of three in four days with a back-to-back with just nine (only three teams have fewer). Here’s how the whole thing shakes out for the Thunder:
The Thunder only get one game this season against a team playing in its fourth game in five days, but the 16 games against opponents playing their third in four days is tied for the most in the league. OKC’s 11 games against teams coming in with three days rest is pretty high and only 12 games against teams coming off a game the night before is extremely low (the most is Atlanta with 28). Keep Reading…